Todd Queen, DMA
Dean and Penniman Professor of Music
College of Music and Dramatic Arts
Louisiana State University

Dr. Todd Queen currently serves as Dean of the LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts and Penniman Family Professor of Music, a position he has held since 2014.  His unique combination of teaching, directing and performing experience has allowed him to travel the world as an educator, stage director, singer and arts leader. 

In his first five years at LSU, Queen has worked with the faculty to modernize the undergraduate curriculum to meet the needs of the 21^st century artist.  New courses include instruction in technology, marketing, entrepreneurship, and arts leadership. As an avid fundraiser, Queen has led the college launch in a $60 million fundraising campaign, which is currently over 30% to goal, and includes a $4M gift in 2018, the largest gift in the college’s history.  Significant gifts include two new endowed chairs, the lead gift for a recital hall renovation, and the naming of the John G. Turner and Jerry G. Fischer Center for Opera.  Queen is also a strong advocate for international study.  He has traveled to Asia on multiple occasions to forge a partnership with East China Normal University in Shanghai, where he was named Visiting Professor. In 2011, Queen co-founded Opera Orvieto, a three-week summer intensive Italian operatic experience, where he served as Artistic and Stage Director.  In 2016, Opera Orvieto merged with Operafestival di Roma, where Queen currently serves as Executive Director.

Prior to his appointment at LSU, he served as Professor of Voice and Chair of the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance in the College of Liberal Arts at Colorado State University.  In 2012, Queen was the catalyst in forming the LEAP (Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Arts Advocacy and the Public) Institute for the Arts at Colorado State, an interdisciplinary academic unit that houses both an undergraduate minor and graduate program in Arts Leadership and Administration

Dr. Queen earned the DMA and MM degrees from the Eastman School of Music after completing his undergraduate degree at Brigham Young University. Queen served as Artistic Director of Opera Fort Collins from 2004-2011. Under his leadership, the company tripled the number of season productions, significantly increased fundraising efforts, and brought in high-level artists from around the world to sing in Fort Collins, CO. 

Throughout his professional career, Queen has produced and directed more than 60 opera and musical theatre productions. His performing career included faculty and guest recitals, master classes, and solo engagements with international and regional opera companies, orchestras, choruses, and concert series.